After many years of work, the General Medical Council has now begun statutory regulation of physician associates, as well as anaesthesia associates, in addition to doctors.

Regulation will help assure patients, colleagues and employers that PAs and AAs have the knowledge and skills to work safely and that they can be held to account if serious concerns are raised.

Professor Dame Carrie MacEwen was appointed as Chair of the GMC Council in May 2022. And she joins us on the podcast today, to discuss bringing PAs and AAs into regulation with the GMC.

Carrie is a consultant ophthalmologist for NHS Tayside and Honorary Professor at the University of Dundee. She served as Chair of the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges until 2020 and is Past-President of the Royal College of Ophthalmologists.

Carrie has served on several committees in support of education, training and assessment and NHS committees regarding service re-design for general medical services. She chairs the multiprofessional subcommittee of the Royal College of Ophthalmologists and also chairs the Trustee Board of the Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership, is a trustee of the Moorfields Eye Charity and she was a member of the council of the University of Exeter.

Carrie was specialty ophthalmology advisor to the Scottish Chief Medical Officer for over a decade and led the Scottish Eyecare Workstream, ceasing this role in June 2022. She was the clinical co-lead for the ophthalmology ‘Getting It Right First Time’ programme and the Eye Care Recovery and Transformation Programme for NHS England/Improvement.